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Thunderbird Club

#64,501
dukeorock said:
Umm, yes... I was just thinking that exact same thing :)

When Dylan was recording Nashville Skyline, he was using some old timers. A list country pickers. There’s a great bit where the older steel player looks up at Dylan and says, “Tell you what, I’ll just keep playing and you tell me when it sounds purple.”
Click to expand...
Makes complete sense to me.
 
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#64,504
Took all three of my ‘Birds out of my studio part of the house (aka, living room) and put em back on the wall in the music room, fired up the amp and kept switching back and forth between em. Between the direct recordings and the amp in the room, I came to some conclusions.

The TB ‘66 is staying in the NR41. I love the ‘63 as well, but the ‘66 has a little more bark and I like it.

The ‘14 Gibson with the Black Beauty’s still sounds rad.

I didn’t expect this, but through the amp, the Cobalts on the ‘02 sound pretty great. Taking this one to the Derek Hoke gig tonight. Has a cool, tight, defined sound
 
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#64,508
BklynKen said:
I might actually consider it if he included a set of Ginsu knives.
Click to expand...
Aw, heck, it's so cheap you probably need two of 'em. It might be a little like owning all seven black 1979 'Birds. You could own all three '60s vintage lefties. How hard could it be to find three, anyway?
 
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#64,514
Gaolee said:
The incredible shrinking pedalboard may shrink again. The HPF may not be necessary if I use the ToneHammer. I plan to find out shortly.

Then again, if that works, I may throw a fuzz on the board just to see how that goes. Then it will be expanding a little.
Click to expand...

Nah, you need one of them AO Ultras ... and then you can run the Duality Fuzz into it. Don't know what it will sound like but it will sound like something.
 
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#64,515
IMG_0478.JPG
Dingwall D Bird Custom-this a stock pic of the prototype, because my pics suck!
First off, sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. I'll get my son over this weekend to take some glamour shots.

Form and construction: This thing is drop dead sexy, the pictures don't do it justice, but I tried to capture some of the contours. Unfortunately, the sun was going down and I had a lot of shadows to deal with. It is bold, like a bird should be, but also subdued at the same time. I was jonesing for one of these when the first press release came out almost two years ago. Dingwall makes some beautiful basses, particularly their original designs, but they're a little too exotic for me. I wanted to like the Super J and Super P's, but the fanned fret fretboard on a classic body just looked like clown shoes to me, until the D Bird came out. The classic T Bird body shape just seems to lend itself to the angles of the fanned frets and individual bridges. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really dig it. There are nods to the original T Bird design everywhere, like the raised center section, but I particularly like the turquoise inlay in the headstock, and the body sculpting is particularly svelte. It's a mahogany body, 3 piece maple neck with wenge fretboard, headstock overlay and pickguard. Came with a very nice HSC, but also fits in my Mono Vertigo bag which makes me happy.
20180130_100540.jpg 20180130_162536.jpg 20180130_162520.jpg 20180130_162502.jpg 20180130_162906.jpg
This thing plays great, no adjustment necessary even after a cross country trek. Every note rings true and sustains forever, I can feel each one through my thumb on the back of the neck. The string tension is very equal across all the strings. I'm not sure if this is due to the quality of the work or the multi scale, probably both. The scale is 34"-36.25", each string is .75" longer than the one below it. The E string is amazing, with the first fret F very authorative, more so than any bass I've played.
Sounds: This is not a Thunderbird copy, more a TSO, so it doesn't sound like a T Bird, but it sounds really good. It has three pickups, master volume, 4 way rotary pickup selector and master tone. Each pickup is a actually a dual coil reverse P design. Position 1 is bridge only, very burpy as you'd expect, but very versatile when working the tone control. # 2 is bridge and middle in parallel, much fuller and a low mid cut. #3 is middle only, very P sounding. #4 is bridge/middle (parallel) in series with the neck. This is massive,dense, and a little louder, probably the closest to a T Bird sound, maybe a little too thick. I won't get to play this live until next Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see which setting works best for me with a band.

All I need to do is add the obligatory Hipshot d-tuner and I will be set.

So that's it, I think I'm in love!
 
Last edited:
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#64,516
dmac1961 said:
View attachment 2896822 Dingwall D Bird Custom-this a stock pic of the prototype, because my pics suck!
First off, sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. I'll get my son over this weekend to take some glamour shots.

Form and construction: This thing is drop dead sexy, the pictures don't do it justice, but I tried to capture some of the contours. Unfortunately, the sun was going down and I had a lot of shadows to deal with. It is bold, like a bird should be, but also subdued at the same time. I was jonesing for one of these when the first press release came out almost two years ago. Dingwall makes some beautiful basses, particularly their original designs, but they're a little to exotic for me. I wanted to like the Super J and Super P's, but the fanned fret fretboard on a classic body just looked like clown shoes to me, until the D Bird came out. The classic T Bird body shape just seems to lend itself to the angles of the fanned frets and individual bridges. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really dig it. There are nods to the original T Bird design everywhere, like the raised center section, but I particularly like the turquoise inlay in the headstock, and the body sculpting is particularly svelte. It's a mahogany body, 3 piece maple neck with wenge fretboard, headstock overlay and pickguard. Came with a very nice HSC, but also fits in my Mono Vertigo bag which makes me happy.
View attachment 2896832 View attachment 2896833 View attachment 2896834 View attachment 2896836 View attachment 2896837
Sounds: This is not a Thunderbird copy, more a TSO, so it doesn't sound like a T Bird, but it sounds really good. It has three pickups, master volume, 4 way rotary pickup selector and master tone. Each pickup is a actually a dual coil reverse P design. Position 1 is bridge only, very burpy as you'd expect, but very versatile when working the tone control. # 2 is bridge and middle in parallel, much fuller and a low mid bump. #3 is middle only, very P sounding. #4 is bridge/middle (parallel) in series with the neck. This is massive,dense, and a little louder, probably the closest to a T Bird sound, maybe a little too thick. I won't get to play this live until next Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see which setting works best for me with a band.

All I need to do is add the obligatory Hipshot d-tuner and I will be set.

So that's it, I think I'm in love!
Click to expand...

That is one wild monster of a bass.
 
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#64,517
dmac1961 said:
View attachment 2896822 Dingwall D Bird Custom-this a stock pic of the prototype, because my pics suck!
First off, sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. I'll get my son over this weekend to take some glamour shots.

Form and construction: This thing is drop dead sexy, the pictures don't do it justice, but I tried to capture some of the contours. Unfortunately, the sun was going down and I had a lot of shadows to deal with. It is bold, like a bird should be, but also subdued at the same time. I was jonesing for one of these when the first press release came out almost two years ago. Dingwall makes some beautiful basses, particularly their original designs, but they're a little too exotic for me. I wanted to like the Super J and Super P's, but the fanned fret fretboard on a classic body just looked like clown shoes to me, until the D Bird came out. The classic T Bird body shape just seems to lend itself to the angles of the fanned frets and individual bridges. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really dig it. There are nods to the original T Bird design everywhere, like the raised center section, but I particularly like the turquoise inlay in the headstock, and the body sculpting is particularly svelte. It's a mahogany body, 3 piece maple neck with wenge fretboard, headstock overlay and pickguard. Came with a very nice HSC, but also fits in my Mono Vertigo bag which makes me happy.
View attachment 2896832 View attachment 2896833 View attachment 2896834 View attachment 2896836 View attachment 2896837
This thing plays great, no adjustment necessary even after a cross country trek. Every note rings true and sustains forever, I can feel each one through my thumb on the back of the neck. The string tension is very equal across all the strings. I'm not sure if this is due to the quality of the work or the multi scale, probably both. The scale is 34"-36.25", each string is .75" longer than the one below it. The E string is amazing, with the first fret F very authorative, more so than any bass I've played.
Sounds: This is not a Thunderbird copy, more a TSO, so it doesn't sound like a T Bird, but it sounds really good. It has three pickups, master volume, 4 way rotary pickup selector and master tone. Each pickup is a actually a dual coil reverse P design. Position 1 is bridge only, very burpy as you'd expect, but very versatile when working the tone control. # 2 is bridge and middle in parallel, much fuller and a low mid bump. #3 is middle only, very P sounding. #4 is bridge/middle (parallel) in series with the neck. This is massive,dense, and a little louder, probably the closest to a T Bird sound, maybe a little too thick. I won't get to play this live until next Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see which setting works best for me with a band.

All I need to do is add the obligatory Hipshot d-tuner and I will be set.

So that's it, I think I'm in love!
Click to expand...
Overall I like the D Bird but i dont know that I could say I’m in love. I would have to see one under my fingers.
 
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#64,520
Klondike said:
Of course I almost immediately pluger her into my GK RB and played a song. Barky, growly and grunt. What a beautiful sound! I willnprobably change strings so I think I’m going to try some Half Rounds. Who makes those other than D’Adarrio? I havent found another manufacturer.
Click to expand...

I'm not to well versed on strings, but i'm sure someone will chime in with some suggestions. Yeah, they're cool basses for sure K. Congrats!
 
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